The Changeling: The State of Play (Arden Shakespeare The State of Play)

This collection of original essays on Middleton and Rowley’s unsettling revenge tragedy The Changeling represents key new directions in criticism and research. The 13 chapters fall into six groups focusing on questions of space, theology, collaboration, disability both mental and physical, and performance both early modern and contemporary: each represents an aspect of the state of the art in criticism of early modern drama and together they address central issues, notably tragedy, gender, and violence. The introduction situates the chapters in relation to The Changeling’s critical and theatrical history, and the bibliography is designed to help readers develop their understanding of the field and pursue further possibilities for analysing the play. With contributors ranging from highly regarded critics to emerging scholars drawn from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Switzerland, the collection equips readers to engage with a variety of critical approaches to the play, moving a long way beyond the last century’s tendency to treat Middleton as ‘the early modern Ibsen’, to ignore Rowley, and to focus almost wholly on the castle plot – in particular the relationship of Beatrice-Joanna and de Flores – at the expense of the hospital plot. Cover Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS PREFACE SERIES PREFACE Introduction Gordon McMullan and Kelly Stage Notes PART ONE Spaces and Places 1 Space, Gender and the Rules of Movement in The Changeling Jean E. Howard Vermandero’s fortress and Alibius’ asylum The laws of movement: practised space The closet and the audience Notes 2 Chang(el)ing Spaces Dramatic Forms of Worlding in Late Jacobean England Ina Habermann Theatrical spaces and possible worlds Setting the scene(s) Fractured worlds Space tricks and mousetraps Notes PART TWO Collaboration and the Hospital Plot 3 A Secret Within the Castle William Rowley and The Changeling David Nicol How did Middleton and Rowley write The Changeling ? A Rowleyan vision: fortress Spain and the dramaturgy of The Changeling The importance of reading Rowley Notes 4 Isabella Douglas Bruster Notes PART THREE States of Mind 5 ‘The Pleasure of Your Bedlam’ Mismanaging Insanity in The Changeling Pascale Drouet Bethlehem Hospital from 1247 to the Jacobean era Crooke and Alibius Mistreatment and instrumentalization A satire of charitable practices From ‘clinical’ to human folly Notes 6 Passions, Affections and Instinct in The Changeling Jesse M. Lander Notes PART FOUR Disabilities 7 The Changeling ’s Phantom Limbs1 Karen Sawyer Marsalek Notes 8 Disability Representation and Theatrical Form in The Changeling and The Nice Valour Katherine Schaap Williams ‘Out of form’ and early modern disability Temporality and theatrical action Measures of acting Notes PART FIVE Actor and Audience in Jacobean Performance 9 The Changeling , The Boy Actor and Female Subjectivity Lucy Munro The Changeling and gendered performance The Changeling and gendered subjectivity Notes 10 Witnessing at the Phoenix Early Modern Audiences at The Changeling Jennifer A. Low Notes PART SIX Rape and the Female Body in Contemporary Performance 11 ‘What Would a Foreign Woman Be?’ Sexual Borderlands, Hospitality, and ‘Forgetting Parentage’ in The Changeling on Film Courtney Lehmann The pornotropic gaze: Marcus Thompson’s Middleton’s The Changeling The puritanical gaze: Jay Stern’s The Changeling Madonna or whore? Sarah Harding’s Compulsion Conclusion: the key to the house? Notes 12 Feminist Staging in Brave Spirits’ Changeling Charlene V. Smith and Musa Gurnis De Flores the incel Non-realistic staging as a feminist strategy Consensual choreography for coercive rape Feminist revision: working against and outside the text Notes SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX "This collection of original essays on Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's unsettling revenge tragedy The Changeling represents key new directions in criticism and research. The 13 chapters fall into six groups focusing on questions of space, theology, collaboration, disability both mental and physical, and performance both early modern and contemporary. The Changeling's critical and theatrical history, and a selected bibliography for the volume helps readers easily find the most frequently cited materials in the volume as a whole, while individual essays detail the full expanse of critical sources to pursue for further analysis. With contributors ranging from highly regarded critics to emerging scholars drawn from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Switzerland, the collection equips readers to engage with a variety of critical approaches to the play, moving a long way beyond the last century's tendency to treat Middleton as 'the early modern Ibsen', to ignore Rowley, and to focus almost wholly on a single aspect of the play's plot. Key themes and topics include: Performance; Space and affect; Authorial collaboration; Gender and representation; Violence; Disability"-- Provided by publisher This collection of original essays on Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's unsettling revenge tragedy The Changeling represents key new directions in criticism and research. The 13 chapters fall into six groups focusing on questions of space, theology, collaboration, disability both mental and physical, and performance both early modern and contemporary. The Changeling 's critical and theatrical history, and a selected bibliography for the volume helps readers easily find the most frequently cited materials in the volume as a whole, while individual essays detail the full expanse of critical sources to pursue for further analysis. With contributors ranging from highly regarded critics to emerging scholars drawn from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Switzerland, the collection equips readers to engage with a variety of critical approaches to the play, moving a long way beyond the last century's tendency to treat Middleton as 'the early modern Ibsen', to ignore Rowley, and to focus almost wholly on a single aspect of the play's plot. Key themes and topics include: · Performance · Space and affect · Authorial collaboration · Gender and representation · Violence · Disability